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قراءة كتاب The Cross and Crown
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اللغة: English
الصفحة رقم: 2
hate
Were set to work his teachings here to close.
He long had seen or guessed how it would end;
But faith in principle in him was strong,
And he would not consent to change his course
Nor to retract, nor turn to such resource
As would the purpose of his foes unbend,
And thus his labors on the earth prolong.
But faith in principle in him was strong,
And he would not consent to change his course
Nor to retract, nor turn to such resource
As would the purpose of his foes unbend,
And thus his labors on the earth prolong.
But he resolved to carry on the fight
Beyond the grave, and to contend for power
And freedom to reject the homage base
Which Satan claimed, and meet him face to face
In his own realms of cruelty and night,
And try his title there to freedom's dower.
Beyond the grave, and to contend for power
And freedom to reject the homage base
Which Satan claimed, and meet him face to face
In his own realms of cruelty and night,
And try his title there to freedom's dower.
It was a faith sublime that thus could nerve
The Nazarene to face the death they chose;
But patiently he met his fate alone,
Without complaint, and scarcely gave a groan,
So sure was he that Freedom he could serve
And in the end could conquer all his foes.
The Nazarene to face the death they chose;
But patiently he met his fate alone,
Without complaint, and scarcely gave a groan,
So sure was he that Freedom he could serve
And in the end could conquer all his foes.
It was not long before the end was reached,
So far as earth could end his grand career;
His body lifeless hung upon the cross;
Yet still his deadly foes were at a loss
How to annul the doctrines he had preached
Lest they forever should torment them here.
So far as earth could end his grand career;
His body lifeless hung upon the cross;
Yet still his deadly foes were at a loss
How to annul the doctrines he had preached
Lest they forever should torment them here.
So they resolved upon a double course—
They would pervert what they could not destroy;
Their earthly agents were induced to choose
The bloody cross as symbol of their views,
Which they proclaimed were Christ's, and were the source
Of all their power—His name made a decoy.
They would pervert what they could not destroy;
Their earthly agents were induced to choose
The bloody cross as symbol of their views,
Which they proclaimed were Christ's, and were the source
Of all their power—His name made a decoy.
The banner of the cross they raised aloft,
To conquer by this sign of all that's vile;
"Christians" they called themselves, and fiends in glee
Must have rejoiced their bloody course to see,
As with brute force, or threats, or pleadings soft,
They coupled hell's dark doings with its guile.
To conquer by this sign of all that's vile;
"Christians" they called themselves, and fiends in glee
Must have rejoiced their bloody course to see,
As with brute force, or threats, or pleadings soft,
They coupled hell's dark doings with its guile.
To blind belief they added blinder faith,
And relegated reason to the shades;
Dark superstition ruled the bloody hour,
The world bowed down before religion's pow'r,
And truthfully the page of history saith
Mankind gave up to riots and to raids.
And relegated reason to the shades;
Dark superstition ruled the bloody hour,
The world bowed down before religion's pow'r,
And truthfully the page of history saith
Mankind gave up to riots and to raids.
It was a very pandemonium here,
A hell on earth, a night without a star;
Good manners and good morals passed away,
Corruption and pollution ruled the day,
And Pity left the earth without a tear,
While pallid Justice trembling stood afar.
A hell on earth, a night without a star;
Good manners and good morals passed away,
Corruption and pollution ruled the day,
And Pity left the earth without a tear,
While pallid Justice trembling stood afar.
Contending sects and creeds each other tore;
A word or syllable gave cause for war,
And e'en a single letter made men tear
Each other and profane the decent air
With angry words, and drench their hands in gore,
Performing all that Heaven must abhor.
A word or syllable gave cause for war,
And e'en a single letter made men tear
Each other and profane the decent air
With angry words, and drench their hands in gore,
Performing all that Heaven must abhor.
Men lost all reason, women lost all shame,
And gross indecency ruled day and night;
Fortunes were given to the rotten priests,
Who rated virtue lower than the beasts;
Pollution of the maiden or the dame
Alike was holy in the priestly sight.
And gross indecency ruled day and night;
Fortunes were given to the rotten priests,
Who rated virtue lower than the beasts;
Pollution of the maiden or the dame
Alike was holy in the priestly sight.
At first, it was a struggle mild between
The pagan doctrines and the newer creeds,
Whose crazy devotees quite often sought
The crown of martyrdom, and therefore wrought
Insultingly to taunt and rouse the spleen
That oft in furious wrath its victim bleeds.
The pagan doctrines and the newer creeds,
Whose crazy devotees quite often sought
The crown of martyrdom, and therefore wrought
Insultingly to taunt and rouse the spleen
That oft in furious wrath its victim bleeds.
But paganism was a placid rill
Beside the roaring torrent of the new
And wild religion that its ruin sought;
And most of all its cruelty was taught
Unto it by the men of bloody will
Who did the work of the infernal crew.
Beside the roaring torrent of the new
And wild religion that its ruin sought;
And most of all its cruelty was taught
Unto it by the men of bloody will
Who did the work of the infernal crew.
When Satan's agents found no pagan foe,
They tore each other with tenfold delight;
There was no epithet too harsh to use,
There was no instrument of brute abuse
Severe enough to add unto the woe
Of brothers now grown hateful in their sight.
They tore each other with tenfold delight;
There was no epithet too harsh to use,
There was no instrument of brute abuse
Severe enough to add unto the woe
Of brothers now grown hateful in their sight.
Such scenes the world had never known before,
So fierce did angry passion's billows toss;
Hell seemed let loose, and scarce a Heavenly ray
Shone in the hearts of men to light the way;
All virtue gone, or rotten to the core,
O'er all there rose the dark and bloody cross.
So fierce did angry passion's billows toss;
Hell seemed let loose, and scarce a Heavenly ray
Shone in the hearts of men to light the way;
All virtue gone, or rotten to the core,
O'er all there rose the dark and bloody cross.
But brutal passion cannot always rule;
Reaction comes with renovating sway;
The violence that may at first succeed
Quite soon returns to make its victims bleed;
Coercion is a sharp and treacherous tool—
A two-edged sword that cutteth either way.
Reaction comes with renovating sway;
The violence that may at first succeed
Quite soon returns to make its victims bleed;
Coercion is a sharp and treacherous tool—
A two-edged sword that cutteth either way.
For centuries the nations struggled on,
While reason scarcely gave a glimmering ray;
The rack, the faggot, and anon the sword,
Each played its part to teach the "Holy Word;"
While hated Science, pallid, weary, wan,
Amid the hosts of darkness skulked away.
While reason scarcely gave a glimmering ray;
The rack, the faggot, and anon the sword,
Each played its part to teach the "Holy Word;"
While hated Science, pallid, weary, wan,
Amid the hosts of darkness skulked away.
Not idle was the Nazarene the while;
He marshaled on the other side of life
The hosts of gentle truth and reason mild,
Swaying with love the heart of man and child
To long for freedom and the rights that guile
Had trampled down amid intolerant strife.
He marshaled on the other side of life
The hosts of gentle truth and reason mild,
Swaying with love the heart of man and child
To long for freedom and the rights that guile
Had trampled down amid intolerant strife.
The work was one of love, the progress slow,
For hell contended every inch of
For hell contended every inch of